‘It took the Roman empire some 500 years to decline and fall, and Byzantium lasted almost a millennium beyond that. It is tempting to think that Rome has just packed almost as much history and turbulence into the past week alone. But at the end of a week in which markets appear to have gone full circle, we need to step back and ask exactly what has happened and what has changed. The prime event of last week came last Sunday when Italy’s president turned down the proposal by the country’s populist parties…’

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‘The EU is unpopular in Italy, which is a major economy (unlike Greece) and a member of the eurozone (unlike the UK). Any increase in the chance of an Italian exit required a sharp adjustment in perceptions of risk, which happened on Monday and Tuesday. National holidays in the UK and US on Monday made those adjustments more abrupt. By week’s end, the Italian imbroglio had been resolved, like many before it.’